WHITE HOUSE

QUICK TAKE: Daniels to Blast Obama's 'Extremism' in GOP Response

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, tasked with delivering the Republican response to President Obama's State of the Union Address on Tuesday night, will say the president's "extremism” is dividing the nation.

In excerpts sent before the evening address from House Speaker John Boehner’s office, Daniels said: “No feature of the Obama presidency has been sadder than its constant efforts to divide us, to curry favor with some Americans by castigating others.”

“The extremism that stifles the development of homegrown energy, or cancels a perfectly safe pipeline,” referring to the administration’s blocking the construction of the Keystone oil pipeline, “is a pro-poverty policy,” Daniels was to say.

Daniels also will argue that the Republican “pro-growth” and deregulated approach is the answer for boosting the economy and healing the divided nation.

And he will encourage voters to chose the Republican candidate in November to promote a bolder and more unified country: “2012 must be the year we prove the doubters wrong. The year we strike out boldly, not merely to avert national bankruptcy, but to say to a new generation that America is still the world’s land of opportunity.”